Speculate no more. The head of Chicago Public Schools is heading to Washington, D.C. President-elect Barack Obama officially named Arne Duncan as the U.S Education Secretary nominee.
Speculate no more. The head of Chicago Public Schools is heading to Washington, D.C.
President-elect Barack Obama officially named Arne Duncan as the U.S Education Secretary nominee.
“When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners. For Arne, school reform isn’t just a theory in a book, it’s the cause of his life,” Obama said Tuesday at a news conference at Dodge Renaissance Academy on the West Side.
The rumor mill started swirling a few days after Election Day when Duncan made a trip to the nation’s capitol.
Duncan has run CPS, the third largest school system in the country, for the last seven years.
During his tenure, he ruffled feathers and received praise for his no-nonsense approach to reforming the ailing public school system.
He focused on closing under-performing schools, replacing teachers and finding innovative ways to improve struggling schools, including the school where the announcement was made.
Obama said Duncan “cut his teeth” working with children and praised his dedication and the garnered results.
“In just seven years, he’s boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent. The dropout rate has gone down every year he’s been in charge,” Obama said, adding that the increases the city’s students made on standardized tests “have been twice as big as those for students in the rest of the state.”
As Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden stood by his side, and his wife and two children watched from the front row, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening the economy or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It’s the civil rights issues of our generation.”
“While there are no simple answers, I know from experience that when you focus on basics like reading and math, when you embrace innovative new approaches to learning, and when you create a professional climate that attracts great teachers, you can make a difference for children,” he said.
A Hyde Park resident and Harvard University graduate like Obama, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia before beginning his career in education.
The two longtime friends often shoot hoops together, including on Election Day.
Duncan worked for six years with the Ariel Education Initiative, an arm of Ariel Investments, before Mayor Richard M. Daley chose him in 2001 to succeed former CPS head, Paul Vallas.
“When faced with tough decisions, Arne doesn’t blink. He’s not beholden to any one ideology, and he doesn’t hesitate for one minute to do what needs to be done,” the president-elect said.
Obama said he realizes that many of the nation’s schools aren’t “up to snuff” and won’t get reformed overnight, but he’s confident Duncan is the right person to lead the charge.
“With his leadership, I am confident that together, we will bring our education system, and our economy, into the 21st century and give all our kids the chance to succeed,” Obama added.
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